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Friday, February 27, 2015

VOCALIST KENYA SET TO RELEASE ECLECTIC SOULFUL ALBUM "MY OWN SKIN"

Kenya
(whose full name is Kenya McGuire Johnson) has been singing since the age of 8.
Raised in Denver, CO she was active in citywide choirs, jazz bands, show
choirs, musical theater, jazz ensembles and gospel choirs. While in college at
Howard University in Washington, D.C., Kenya performed in the renowned Howard
Gospel Choir and opened for artists such as Yolanda Adams and Bebe & Cece
Winans. Upon graduating from Howard University with a degree in physical
therapy, Kenya became a clinician, educator, clinical instructor and
administrator in higher education. After
years of being away from music, she took a massive leap of faith and made the
decision to leave her academic career and follow her passion!

Kenya
has performed at a variety of leading venues across the nation and has opened
for such recording artists as Grammy Award winning recording artist Lalah
Hathaway, Rachelle Ferrell, and Stokley Williams of the acclaimed R&B group
Mint Condition. She has shared venue
bills with neo-soul artist Algebra Blessett and recording jazz artist Raul
Midon. Venues include a sold out
audience at Washington, D.C.’s legendary Blues Alley, Chicago’s House of Blues,
Billie's Black in Harlem, The Biltmore and Molly Malone’s in Los Angeles,
Dazzle Jazz Club in Denver, CO, Cullen's Live in Houston, TX and The Tralf
Music Hall in Buffalo, NY. Kenya has
headlined at the Soul Mountain Music Festival in Beaver Creek, CO, the infamous
Pine Grill Jazz Festival in Buffalo, NY and The Africana Music Festival in Virginia
Beach, VA.

Kenya’s
first release from her forthcoming debut LP/album My Own Skin titled “Be Here”
featuring the soulful recording duo Kloud 9 peaked at #28 on the US R&B
Billboards and #2 on the UK Soul Chart.
Her second release from the same album “Wednesday Girl” is a stirring
neo-soul/jazz groove that also peaked at #2 on the UK Soul Chart. My Own Skin is an eclectic soulful album that
will be released in Europe by Expansion Records March 2015. Early reviews of the album describe it as
being filled with “scorchers” and being “very sophisticated and diverse.” ~ kenyamjmusic.com